The folks running Liberty Jewelry and Loan bought the golf club for next to nothing. In the end, though, it cost them everything.

Leslie Calvo, daughter of pawnshop owner Martin Levy, bought the driver in 2005 from a Seattle police informant she thought to be a thief. She, her father and her husband, Richard Calvo, were targeted in a long-running sting operation aimed at taking down a theft ring centered on Liberty Jewelry and Loan.

What followed was the largest property seizure in Seattle history, said Detective Dan Stokke, a 16-year veteran of the department's organized-crime unit.

When police shut them down, the Calvos and Levy were selling more than $100,000 a year in stolen goods on eBay alone, Stokke said. More goods were being sold through the pawnshop and other means, and the trio had accumulated a huge stockpile of electronics, apparel and glass artwork stolen from Seattle-area businesses.

On Wednesday, after sitting in police custody for three years, the seized items began returning to their rightful owners.

Puetz Golf Chief Executive Officer Randy Russell sifted through boxes of clubs - most of them drivers, many with the tags still on - at a police warehouse in South Seattle looking for his lost merchandise. Among the bunch was the Big Bertha, the bait club lent to the police by Puetz to bust the theft ring.

Stokke, who led the Liberty investigation, had seen business owners file in throughout the day. Most, he said, were glad to get their goods back after all these years.

Russell said the Calvos and Levy were sending a steady stream of thieves into his stores. One shoplifter, an old man, was even ferried to the store by taxicab with orders from Liberty on what to steal.

Seated at a folding table covered with clubs, Stokke handed Russell a high-end putter. Like another already pulled from the pile, it was a leftie.

"Marty Levy," the detective joked, "is left-handed."

Levy, 71, is also in a state prison, having begun a two-year sentence last month after pleading guilty to six counts of trafficking stolen property. His daughter and Richard Calvo also have pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced Friday. Before his sentencing, dozens of Levy's supporters sent letters to the court asking for leniency in his case.

A graduate of Garfield High School, Levy expanded the family business into a successful enterprise he intended to leave to his children. He rose in Seattle society, buying a $1 million lakefront home on Mercer Island and counting among his friends judges, prominent attorneys and other business leaders.

Former gallery owner JoAnn Overfield had little doubt in the early 2000s that a large, orchestrated theft was going on.

Glass art, including that stocked at the downtown Seattle gallery Overfield used to own, was disappearing more often than before.

"I've been in the art business for 25 years, and I don't remember ever hearing about anything like this kind of loss of inventory," said Overfield, who also went to the evidence warehouse Wednesday.

Police recovered 326 pieces of glass art during the investigation, Stokke said. Taken as a whole, the series of thefts mark the largest art heist in state history.People who believe they might have been a victim of the Liberty theft ring can call detectives at 206-233-2666.